


i found a little plot of land in the garden of eden

by allbridgesburn



Category: The Handmaid's Tale (TV), The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
Genre: 2x07 coda, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Pregnancy, Season 2 spoilers, Secret Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-02
Updated: 2018-06-02
Packaged: 2019-05-17 06:38:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14827268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allbridgesburn/pseuds/allbridgesburn
Summary: If anything ever changes in Gilead, it changes for the worse.[coda to 2x07] [spoilers]





	i found a little plot of land in the garden of eden

She can’t stop thinking about the coffins. How there were more red coffins than black ones. How more Handmaids died than the commanders. How, through it all, like a cockroach, Waterford made it out alive.

If anything ever changes in Gilead, it changes for the worse.

There are footsteps on the stairs leading to her room, and June’s heart picks up beat. In the darkness of the room she can barely make the silhouette that appears at the door. He’s a shadow, closing the door softly behind him, and it’s like no one’s ever been there at all.

Nick strides to her, and she catches his hand, pulling him next to her on the bed until they’re nestled so close together she can feel his warmth seeping through the thin fabric of her nightgown. His breath caresses her cheek. He smells like cigarettes and hospital, and, underneath all that, like home.

“She’s staying with the Commander tonight,” he says, and the thought that they’re alone in the house – save for Rita – is intoxicating. The wave of relief that washes over her is short-lived though, when she remembers what that means.

“Do you think he’ll make it?”

She buries her face in the crook of his neck, and his arms wrap tightly around her. “We’ll have time to worry about that later,” he says into her hair. Worry about the wife waiting in his cold bed. Worry about Commander Pryce being dead and how that cost Nick all of his hard-earned leverage and influence. Worry about Serena stealing their baby and sending June off to be raped all over again. Worry about the Commanders looking for people to blame and publicly execute. Looking for _him_.

“Do you think,” June says softly, her hand warm over his heart, “Mayday planned to kill those Handmaids? That it wasn’t just an unfortunate coincidence, but they actually wanted it to happen?”

“June–”

She thinks about the girl she never knew the name of, the second Ofglen, the thirty other broken, desperate girls going up in flames, dragging the bastards down, down to hell.

“Maybe we’ve been going about it the wrong way, Nick. Maybe they’re right. Maybe the only way to escape this place is to set it on fire. Destroy it all. Set us free.”

Nick sucks in a breath and draws back so he can look into her eyes, glittering with unshed tears in the moonlight. He presses his hand to her cheek, caressing softly her hot skin. “Don’t say that, don’t even think that, June. Not while we can still save Hannah and the baby, when we can give them the life they deserve.”

“Can we, though?” A tear rolls down her cheek and Nick catches it with his thumb. “We’ve tried already and failed. And that was when Mayday still wanted to help us. Now even they are okay with killing us.”

“We’ll find a way, June, I promise. I will get you out if it’s the last thing I do.”

She shakes her head. “Do you really think that would be enough? Getting out knowing that you–“

“Shhh.” He cradles her to him, legs tangling together, arms wrapped tightly around each other. June waits until her breaths even out, listens to the steady beat of Nick’s heart thumping against her own chest.

The baby’s movement catches her by surprise and she stiffens. “What’s wrong–“ Nick starts, eyes searching her face for signs of pain, but she just shakes her head, her lips starting to curl into a soft smile. She takes his hand and places it on her stomach.

She feels the baby kick again, and Nick makes a strange wheezing sound. “You feel that?” she asks, her voice strangely hoarse.

He nods, looking at her belly in astonishment. The baby kicks again against his hand. “Oh my God.”

“That’s our little girl,” June says, her eyes starting to sting once more.

Nick swallows hard. He moves down the bed until his head is level with June’s belly. “Hi, peanut,” he says. His voice is soft and warm and June wants to bottle this moment up and tuck it safely away in her mind, to replay over and over again when everything inevitably goes to shit later. She will have this one tiny scrap of the universe, where they were a normal, loving family, safe and away from the cruel world forced on them.

“I’m your dad,” he says in wonder, and the baby moves again, as if in agreement. June reaches down and combs her fingers through Nick’s dark hair, as he continues speaking nonsense to her belly. He talks about teaching her how to ride a bicycle and reading Winnie the Pooh and how they will watch all the Disney classics and how he will never complain once about that.

“You say that now,” June says with a laugh, “but when she makes you watch Barbie: Princess Charm School for the fiftieth time that month, you will be sorry.”

Nick raises his eyebrows, “I don’t think so, my daughter will have excellent taste,” but it does come out with a healthy dose of doubt, and he can be damn sure no toddler would turn down that glittery pink extravaganza. But June has a feeling he wouldn’t mind. He would do anything to make her happy.

If they had the chance.

They lie like that for a while, comfortably silent in the darkness. At last Nick tilts his head back to look at her. “I mean what I said, back then.”

Her hand stills in his hair.

“I love you,” he says, this time looking into her eyes, earnest and determined, and it makes June’s chest constrict, “both of you. And I swear, I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“I know,” she replies hoarsely, and she does, she believes it completely, but somehow that doesn’t make her feel any better.

He moves back to her level and kisses her, soft and sweet, and she melts into him, never wanting to let go. He kisses her nose and cheeks and neck and suddenly she wants, desperately –

There is a knock on her door, and they spring apart so fast Nick almost lands on the floor.

Rita’s face appears in the doorway, her eyes trained somewhere on the ceiling. “Her car is in the driveway. You’d better go,” she intones, then turns on her heel and leaves. June groans into her pillow.

Nick leans over her, and cradles her head in his hands. “Hey,” he says, and kisses her swiftly, “don’t give up. We’ll figure something out.”

“Okay,” she says, and steals one last kiss before he runs back.

Then the door closes, and she’s alone again.

  


End file.
